Zone Coach Elections:
The elections for zone coaches once again had a large turnout. On the ballot were John Blaschke (CUBU), Nate Gordon (TCSD), Rob Griffin (AVST), Chris Huott (MSSC), Gabriel Ibanez (FISH), Dave Kraft (RMSC), and Evan Stiles (AAC).

Elected were John Blaschke, Rob Griffin, Gabriel Ibanez, and Evan Stiles. Evan Stiles has subsequently stated that he will be unable to fill his Zone Coach obligation and the next coach in line was Dave Kraft.

Coaches Representative Elections: The elections for the open Coach Rep position was a race between Mark Murray of UMD on the ballot and as write in Bill Marlins (PM) and Brendan Betts (OCCS).

The winner of the election was Bill Marlin of Potomac Marlins.

Athlete Representative Elections: The election for Athlete Representative to fill for the out-going Kelly Burke was between two write in candidates. Matt Dugan (CUBU) and Marshi Smith (PM) were the only two people that were receiving votes.

Matt Dugan was the winner of the Election.

Open Water: I will be attending the Zone Open Water competition and I have already contacted them. I will be reporting back on how the event is run, and also look at their needs. I will also talk to the various coordinators of the meet while there. If you can think of anything that I should ask please email me at blaschke@bellatlantic.net so that I can add them to my list. I have been reviewing the Open Water Swimming handbook that was provided to me by Boots Hall.

Senior Champs:
The meet ran well as far as I could tell. I would have liked to see more swimmers participate and we need to work with the coaches to promote the aspect of that meet vs. Summer League Swimming. Given the facility that was used, it was not fully taken advantage of. BUT, it did allow a lot of our younger and up and comer swimmers to make nighttime swims for a Trials/Finals opportunity.

Age Group Champs:
The meet ran well and ran with in reason of the timeline. In the future for all meets that are designated Championship Meets I feel that a "psych sheet" should be posted to help prevent what occurred with having "lost" entries. The OCCS did refund the Friday meet sheets to any of the parents that had purchased them.

Junior Champs:
The Potomac Marlins ran a well-organized meet this weekend given the numbers that could have appeared. They provided numerous copies of the seeding to both coaches and posting and I am not aware of a swimmer missing their heat/swim.

Meet Format
I do have a proposal for a change for the meet format for next year. A couple of coaches came up with the idea of running a dual session meet. Make the meet into a 9-session meet. This would be accomplished by having a session of swims in the morning with NFT and NST cuts for both 13-14 and Senior. Top 2 or 3 heats could come back for a Trials/Finals format. While in the mid-day a version of the current LC Junior Champs would run with the NFT. This would allow the Swimmers who are Serious about competing or making a Zone Cut an opportunity to maximize their chances, while allowing the swimmer who also wants to compete on the Saturday of their Summer League or does not have a cut in the bracket. To fill in the Mid-Day session we can open the Non-Traditional Event to the 12 and unders. Looking over the number of swimmers who were within a .5 second of making a Zone cut. The "One-Shot" approach at the cumulating meet for them does not seem appropriate. This would also give the 13-14's another chance at a Trials/Finals LC format that they are not all able to participate in at Senior Champs.